Fire sends six to hospital

An 11-month-old girl who suffered burns to her face and neck was rescued Wednesday by firefighters who pulled her from her crib during a house fire that sent six people to the hospital.

Leslie Fark

Nikko Clark was asleep when his aunt’s screams jolted him and his two cousins awake Wednesday morning.

"She was screaming the house was on fire," said Clark, 19, as he stood in the driveway and stared in shock at his 821 W. Spring Hollow Lane home, where several hours earlier was a frenzy scene of firefighters, police, paramedics and ambulances.

The trio had been sleeping in the basement of the colonial-style home when a fire started on the main floor. About 1 a.m., a smoke alarm alerted Clark’s aunt, Valerie Edwards, to the fire.

Firefighter officials say they believe Edwards, 50, encountered the blaze on the first floor after coming downstairs from her bedroom. Before running out the front door, she grabbed her 9-year-old granddaughter, Jayla Clark, who was sleeping on a couch.

At the back of the house, Nikko Clark, Khadjah Edwards, 17, and Chevockia Wade, 27, crawled through a basement window to safety.

"There was no smoke, but you could see the fire through the ceiling," Clark said of the basement escape. "I wasn’t even thinking really. I was trying to get the situation resolved."

The cousins ran toward the front of the home, hoping to see their other three family members had made it out, but saw only two.

Trapped inside was Edwards’ 11-month-old infant granddaughter. She was still in her crib in an upstairs bedroom.

Edwards, after running out with her 9-year-old granddaughter, re-entered the home several times in an attempt to get the baby, fire officials and witnesses said. While doing so, she sustained second- and third-degree burns to her arms, chest and face.

The first firefighters arriving to the house, only three minutes after a call to 911, were met with powerful flames that had already consumed the first floor and was moving up the sides of the house to the second floor and rooftop.

"It was horrible," said one firefighter, who asked to remain anonymous. "There was fire blowing out of every window in the house. We all thought if there was anyone inside they wouldn’t be alive."

But one team of firefighters immediately went to work to save the baby still inside. Propping a ladder next to a second-story window, they were overcome with fire when they tried to enter.

Only after another group of firefighters soaked the flames at the front of the house was another rescue attempted. Firefighters located the baby in her crib, but not before she was burned on her face and neck.

"When they pulled her out, she didn’t have a pulse," Peoria Fire Division Chief Emil Steinseifer said. "(Paramedics) worked on her all the way to the hospital. They got a pulse on her just before they got to the hospital."

The infant, whose name was being witheld, and Edwards were both flown to Memorial Medical Center’s burn unit in Springfield, where Edwards was listed in serious condition Wednesday night.

The condition of her 11-month-old granddaughter was unavailable. She sustained second-degree burns and smoke inhalation, firefighters said.

Edwards’ other granddaughter, Jayla Clark, was in listed in critical condition late Wednesday at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. Fire officials said she inhaled smoke, but were unsure if she suffered other injuries.

The remaining three family members were treated and released from St. Francis, with no injuries. The family’s two dogs died in the fire.

"They’re very nice people," said neighbor Chris Todd. "I got along with all of them.

"Valerie, she’s a very nice, caring person. She would always help you whenever she could," the neighbor continued.

Todd called Edwards’ husband, Elbert Edwards, who was working at the time of the fire to tell him. "I had to call him home to this disaster," she said. "It was bad. It was hysteria."

As of Wednesday afternoon, the fire investigators had not pinpointed the cause of the fire, but were working to eliminate possibilities, Steinseifer said.

"We’re making sure we look at everything," he said. "Three people are hospitalized."

Damage to the house, considered as a total loss, was estimated at $214,000.